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BluebellT U T O R I A L

by

Zoë Clark

Lace Applique

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InspirationThe inspiration behind this cake design came from Ian Stuart’s Bluebell Gown. I fell inlove with it as soon as I saw it, and couldn’t wait to try to replicate the lacy and floral elements using a variety of different sugar mediums and techniques!

This tutorial is a brief little insight into how I made a couple of the textured floral appliques which form the main element of this cake. The rest of the ap-pliques are just variations of different sizes and shapes. I used some moulds and also cut out shapes using my own templates which I’ve included here. You can also easily substitute any of these with cutters and moulds you al-ready have. x

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MATERIALS:• 300g pale grey-purple-dusky blue gum-paste (more grey than the actaul fondant on the cake)

• 40g white gumpaste

• Pearl White and Dusky Lilac (Faye Ca-hill) lustres

• Decorator’s alcohol (i.e. rose spirit or rejuvenator spirit

• 150g pale grey royal Icing

• Water or sugar glue

• One sheet a4 wafer paper

• Fancy sprinkles edible glitter

• Cornflour to dust

• Piping gel

For the appliques you will need...EQUIPMENT:• Small rolling pin

• cutting wheel

• dresden tool

• paint brushes and dusting brushes

• lace moulds, I have used 2 sizes of blos-som moulds from Decorate the Cake (U.S.), Katy Sue Lace mat and a selection of CK moulds -try to include some with leaves and vines.

• Templates

•Foam pad

• Small round cutter or piping tip approx.4mm

• Palette or plate

• Piping tip no.1 (I used PME)

• Piping bag

Tools & Materials This cake is 5” by 5”, 6 “ by 6” and 8” by 6” tiers with a 7” acrylic separator. It’s covered in a dusky purple/blue-grey coloured fondant then airbrushed a little with white to add a tiny bit of texture and shading.

* Quantities given above will be enough for the whole cake

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A note before you start....

Roll out some gumpaste to about 1mm thick. It needs to be large enough for the larger flower template. If you like, you can roll out more at once and cut more flowers. Use the cutting wheel to cut around the flower.

Press the Katy Sue lace mat onto the paste, concentrating mainly on the the petals.

Try to always roll the gumpaste out thinly in order to achieve more delicate ap-pliques. However, there is a fine line between rolling it out thinly and too thin- you don’t want the appliques to tear apart as you press them in the moulds. Use plenty or cornflour to help you if the paste is sticky. I usually find it helps if I roll out the paste, wait for a few minutes, perhaps flipping it over after a while, then working with it. The paste becomes a little stiffer and easier to work with.

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Tip some pearl white dust onto a plate or palette, add a touch of alcohol to make it like a thick paint, then use your finger to rub it over the textured icing. You don’t want to have too much paint or have it too runny. The idea is just to colour the raised areas and leave the sunken areas matt.

Tillt the flower on an angle to catch the light if you can’t see the lustre very clearly whilst painting from above.

Stick the textured flower to the cake with wa-ter or sugar glue. Add more lustre if you feel it needs it.

Add four more of the larger flowers evenly around the cake. I placed three on the bottom tier and two on the top.

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For the next layer, roll the paste out as before and press it between the larger blossom lace mould. Use plenty of cornflour dusted on both sides of the mould to prevent it sticking. There’s no need to press too hard, you just need to get the main shape. You might be able to tear the paste around the shape but don’t force it. Remove the paste from the mould and cut it out using the cutting wheel.

Press the Katy Sue mat onto the petals of the flower.

Cut around the shape to make it less even. The whole idea is you are alternring the original design of the mould a little so it’s different , and looks similar to the outer layer.

Stick the icing on the cake and repeat for the rest of the larger flowers around the cake.

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Repeat the previous two steps using the smaller blossom mould (Decorate the Cake) and stick the next layer on the cake.

Place some soft-peak royal icing into a piping bag with tip no. 1 and pipe around the out-side edges of the three layers of petals. Don’t worry about making the icing perfect. If it’s ‘bumpy’ it adds to the ‘stitched’ effect.

Cut out a flower using the larger blossom as before. Place it onto a foam pad and carefully smooth out the indentations from the mould in the centre of the flower, using the end of your rolling pin or a ball tool.

Carefully place that flower over the smaller mould and lightly press the back onto the paste, creating another indentation of the smaller shape.

Triple pressed appliques!This is the name I’ve given to these pieces which have been pressed into three different moulds, one after the other, creating an embroidered layered flower appearance, abit like a rose.

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It should look like this now. This might take a couple of attempts to get it right and work out how thick you need the icing to be to start with. If it’s too thin, it will tear.

Finally, use the small CK blossom mould to press in another inner layer. This mould also have leaves so I avoided pressing these areas so they didn’t mark the icing.

Allow the icing to dry a little before sticking it to the cake, this way you won’t disturb the texture.

Make around four or five of these and stick them around the top two tiers. Rub some pearl lustre paint over the rasied details as before.

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Use the smaller CK mould and other small flace flower moulds (or your own cutters) to make smaller aapliques. You can layer them, emboss them with the Katy Sue mould, or use them as they are. You could also use the templates I’ve included for the wafer appli-ques.

I used smaller flowers to fill in gaps in between the larger ones on the upper tiers and for all the flowers on the bottom tier.

Smaller applique variations

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Use the dusky lilac lustre to colour the wa-fer paper then attach them to the cake using either some royal icing or piping gel, which ever works. Use the main cake picture and the pictures of the dress as a guide.

Use the small 5 petal blossom, 4 petal blossom and single petal shape templates to cut out flowers from the sheet of wafer paper. Over a gently simmering pan of water, soften and fold the paper to create a pinched flower shape.

Once you have the desired shape, pinch it tight for a moment until it holds it shape.

Wafer paper petals

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To make the leafy elements, press some ic-ing into the leaf sections of the moulds. cut around the shapes using the cutting wheel, and attach them around the edge of the flow-ers on the cake here and there. Again, use the main cake picture as a reference.

Add some sparkly touches to the flowers, us-ing the glitter and some piping gel. I used it mainly on the outer petals of the large flow-ers.

Pipe little lines, dots and teardrops to make the flower centres and additional, delicate vines and leaves. Finish by painting over all the royal iced details and lines with pearl lustre.

To make the sequins, roll out some white gumpaste and allow to dry a little. Mix some alcohol with the pearl white lustre and brush it over one side. Allow that to dry then flip the paste over and repeat. Cut out the sequins with a small round cutter. Place them onto a foam pad then use a scriber or cocktail stick to make the holes in the middle. Stick them to the cake using piping gel.

Sequins

Leafy touches and vines

Glitter sparkles Piped details

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Thanks so much for purchasing my tutorial and I hope you en-joyed reading it.

If you have any questions or are unclear about any of the steps, please don’t hesitate to email me info@zoeclarkcakes.com.

Zoë xSuppliers:UK

Squires Kitchen www.squires-shop.com Tel: 0845 61 71 810

The Cake Decorating Company www.thecakedecorating company.co.uk Tel: 0115 969 9800

USA

Global Sugar Art www.globalsugarart.com Tel: 1-518-561-3039

AUSTRALIA

Cakers Warehousewww.cakerswarehouse.com.au Tel: 02 4256 9285

Cakes Around Town www.cakesaroundtown.com.au Tel: 07 3160 8728

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Zoë Clark has asserted her right to be identified as author of this work in accordance with the Copy-right, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, elec-tronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the author.

Readers are permitted to reproduce the sugar flowers and cake decorations from this tuto-rial for their personal use and without the prior permission from the author. However, no part of this publication can be used as teaching or class materials, especially if the purpose of the use is commercial.

The author has made every effort to ensure that the instructions in this publication are accurate and safe, and therefore cannot accept liability for any resulting injury, damage or loss to persons or property, however, it may arise. All inedible items, such as dowels and wired sugar flowers, used in this tutorial, must be removed before the cake is eaten.

Names of manufacturers and product ranges are provided for the information of readers, with no intention to infringe copyright or trademarks.

A ZOE CLARK CAKES TUTORIAL © Zoë Clark 2019